Hamas Warns Israel Against Possible Anti-Terror Offensive

Hamas spokesmen threatened disaster for the Israeli military and praised Arabs under the “occupation of 1948.”

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Nissan Ratzlav-Katz and Hillel Fendel, 04/04/07 01:04

The Hamas emblem includes a map of Israel

In separate statements this week, Hamas spokesmen threatened disaster for the Israeli military and praised the steadfastness of Arabs under the “occupation of 1948.”

A Hamas terrorist spokesman threatened to “bring hell upon the heads of the enemy” in the event of an Israeli military campaign in the Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza Strip or an IDF assassination of a PA terrorist leader. Hamas, which currently controls the PA government, is holding Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captive. Intelligence sources assume that Shalit is located somewhere in southern Gaza.

Many Israeli military experts have long called for a large-scale offensive against the increasingly threatening Palestinian terror capabilities in the Gaza Strip. Of late, however, such calls have not been widely heard. Kassam rockets have been fired at Israel at a reduced pace of late; an average of nearly one a day has been fired over the past few days.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz, touring northern Gaza on Passover Eve (Monday), said the IDF is permitted to hit Kassam launching cells and those who manufacture arms and weapons. "Israel will not allow terror organizations in Gaza to continue arming," Peretz said.

A spokesman for the Hamas terrorist organization identified as “Abu Obeida” said Tuesday, “The Zionist threats are not new. They express the extent of the failure and helplessness the Zionist enemy’s leadership has reached in its confrontation with Palestinian national unity." He claimed that all the PA terrorist organizations are unified, prepared and able to prevent any Israeli military campaign in the Gaza region, adding, “The land of Gaza will become a graveyard for the invaders, who will face new resistance methods that they never knew of before. They will regret the moment they thought of the foolish act of invading the Gaza Strip."

The Hamas spokesman also threatened “a fire that will consume everything” if Israel targets the leadership of the PA Arabs. “It will be a disaster for the Zionist enemy,” Abu Obeida boasted.

Hamas Praise for Arabs in “Occupied Lands of 1948”

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader outside of PA-controlled Gaza expressed the organization’s view of the rest of Israel, including inside the pre-1967 borders. In a speech delivered during a political gathering south of Damascus, Hamas political leader Musa Abu Marzoukpraised the Israeli-Arabs as steadfast sons of the “Palestinian people in the occupied lands of 1948.”

“The uprising following the events of Land Day [expropriation of lands in late March 1976, which have motivated violent anti-State riots by Israeli-Arabs every year since then - ed.] proved the attachment of the Palestinian people in the occupied lands of 1948 to their national identity and their resistance to the occupation,” Abu Marzouk said.